Congress, NCP poll manifestos old wine in old bottle: BJP

Mumbai Oct 3: The election manifestos of Congress and NCP for Maharashtra polls are proof of "old wine in old bottle," the BJP said on Friday.

"The Congress NCP government hasn't fulfilled any of the assurances they made in their earlier manifestos," state BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari told reporters.

The NCP promised to make state load shedding free by December 2012 but that hasn't been done, he said. The state government did not make any efforts on the Dahej to Uran gas pipeline, he said.

NCP leader Supriya Sule has said nobody knows the current agriculture minister as well as they knew her father Sharad Pawar when he held that post, Bhandari said.

"Pawar is known as the Agriculture Minister during whose tenure 60,000 farmers committed suicide," he said.

Congress and NCP won the 2004 polls by promising free electricity and have made that promise again, he said. They want to cheat farmers, he added.

The manifestos contain no new point, he said. They are proof of the lies and deceit of these parties, he added.

"Our priority will also be to remove regional imbalances on development front," he said.

"We have been supporting creation of smaller states, like Vidarbha region, for the last several years. Shiv Sena was aware of this and was with us for last 25 years," he said.

Nobody has spoken of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra and allegations by some leaders, including those of Congress are baseless, he said.

There is no mention of the malpractices on levy of toll in the state, he said. "Instead they have promised to make state toll-free without elaborating on what basis they intend to do it," Bhandari said.